The Band are currently preparing to go to the Scottish brass band Championships which are held in the Concert hall in Perth on Sat 10th March.We will be competing in the 2nd Section and this years set test piece is 'ExTerra Lucem' by composer Jonathan Bates, translated it means "Out Of The Earth Came Light" It is also the motto for St. Helens in Merseyside.We will once again be under the directorship of MD Philip Rosier and look forward to playing this very musical piece which is full of tricky corners and requires the neatest of playing.

The SBBA have been working to improve Scottish Banding. The Following report has all the details.

Report by
SBBA Special Working GroupBackground
The working
group was set up in response to a presentation made to the SBBA
Executive. This presentation had given a statistical overview of:
the
performance of Scottish bands in UK competitions over the past
several years;
the
performance of lower section bands in competitions within Scotland.

Remit
The
statistics contained in the presentation gave the SBBA Executive
cause for concern and the Special Working Group was set up with the
following remit:
Examine
the possible reasons for poor results at UK and European
competitions, specifically the grading system;
Recommend
a range of actions that will improve the musical standard of bands
and support the sustainability and development of bands and banding.

Procedure
The Group
met six times to consider historical, statistical and anecdotal
evidence. It also obtained comparative information from England and
countries in Europe. It also examined a list of potential figureheads
for the movement in Scotland from the worlds of business, arts, media
and celebrity.

Findings
While there
is much evidence of good practice within bands, and noteworthy
individual performances by bands, the Group found that:
Despite
recent successes, a general trend has emerged over the past 12
years: Scottish bands fail to perform well at UK competitions,
especially in the lower sections, and appear to be adrift from
common European standards;
Within
each of the Scottish sections it was clear that many bands were
struggling with the test-pieces allocated to that section;
The
present Grading System is overly complex and skewed by the present
practice of averaging over three years;
Many
bands have difficulty in obtaining and keeping players: there is a
merry-go-round of players moving to more successful bands, rendering
many lower section bands vulnerable and endangered;
Many
bands are not interacting with their communities leading to a
“ghetto” effect;
Decision-making
within bands often fails to be democratic, with irregular AGMs,
inadequate committee structures, and the Band Secretary acting as
sole arbiter for decisions to SBBA;
SBBA,
despite doing more effortful work with young people, is not as
powerful in field of Youth Music as other comparative organisations
such the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland or the National
Children’s Choir.

Conclusions
The
Group has concluded that:
The
present Grading system may be a factor in the trends outline above;
Bands,
as musical organisations, need to be developed to improve their
capacity to attract young players, interact with their communities,
increase the level of funding success, and improve their
organisational structure;
SBBA
needs to gain deeper access to the levers of Scottish Government and
Creative Scotland

Recommendations
The five
Recommendations derive from the Group’s Findings and Conclusions:
1. The
Public Profile of Brass Bands
The profile
of the brass band movement in Scotland is less positive than that of
Pipe Bands. This lack of a high profile affects public perceptions
and the perceptions of potential funders. This is because of
insufficient media interest. We recommend the following actions by
bands and SBBA:

Increased
media coverage: Bands need to increase their
public profile through increased media coverage: public events
should be pre-publicised and then reported in local press (which
will often print stories verbatim). A band member could have this
task. Local media is interested in local stories and bands should
seek SBBA’s advice on how to place these. Bands should also make
more use of SBBA’s publicity and press officer;
Public
performances: Bands should remember that
public engagements are areas of potential recruitment and getting
the public on-side: the music played at public engagements should
therefore be appropriate;
Brass
Showcase: Bands should consider offering
joint concerts with neighbouring bands. Local media will be
interested in an event like this, and the audience can get to choose
the most entertaining band and so become involved in the Showcase;
Bandstand
engagements: Bands should approach Councils
about the possibility of playing in Bandstands or other public
spaces. If Councils show no interest, Community Councils could be
approached;
Brass
Band Week: SBBA should consider how this
could be revived as it is a potential source of much publicity:
consideration should also be given to a Whit Friday-type of event;
Edinburgh
Festival: Within the thousands of
performances in the 2017 Festival Fringe, there was only one
performance by a brass band – it attracted an audience of over
700. There is potential for developing this into weekends of
concerts during the Edinburgh Festival, held in some of Edinburgh’s
public spaces.

2. SBBA’s
relationship with Scottish Government
SBBA and
bands need financial and other support from government. It is
important that:
SBBA
has to make clear to Creative Scotland that what we are proposing
has far greater scope and potential than much of what they are
funding at present: SBBA must adopt the approach of other bodies and
assume, and persuade government to assume, that we have the right to
make financial demands;
SBBA
must provide continuous publicity and create a high profile;
SBBA
should investigate how to create an MSP group;
SBBA
must have regular meetings with Culture Minister and the Chief
Executive of Creative Scotland;
SBBA
can no longer accept negative responses, but must find ways of
exerting pressure on Government and funders.

3.
Appointment of a high-profile figurehead for SBBA
SBBA needs a
high-profile establishment figure who has access to the ear of the
Scottish Government and who represents an imposing figure to Creative
Scotland. The Group recommends that the following person should be
approached by SBBA with a view to their becoming a patron of the
organisation (and a remit to promote brass bands at all levels):
Sir
James MacMillan

4.
Improving and recognising the organisational and musical standards of
individual bands
At present,
bands are judged solely on their musical performance. However,
successful bands may be organisationally poor, while well-managed
bands may be less successful musically. Bands which have a developed
Youth Programme, work extensively with their community, and are
organisationally excellent get no credit for this. As we hope for
every band to be a success, we recommend an additional method of
assessing and recognising a band’s achievement: The
Band Quality Mark Scheme.
We therefore
recommend that:
SBBA
investigates the creation of such a scheme which will include the
following:
Youth
and Player Development: Youth Protection
Policies, Solo and Ensemble Opportunities, Support for young players
attending NYBBS;
Community
Interaction: Dealing with a Council, working
with other voluntary groups, getting engagements;
Legal
aspects: Constitution, Legal Status,
Insurance, Registration;
Finance:
Accounting, fundraising, preparing funding bids
Committee
Skills: Minute-Taking, AGMs;
Library:
Care, Acquisition Policies;
Instruments:
Insurance and Records
Such a
scheme could allow bands to develop at their own pace, and will
require written materials, learning days and trainers. Creative
Scotland could fund this through their Sustainability Strand. N.B.
Members of the Working Group are interested in developing these ideas
on behalf of SBBA.

5. The
Grading System
The present
grading system should be simplified as follows:
Grading
will be calculated on the combined results of TWO Scottish
Championships;
The two
Scottish Championships will be the current year and the previous
year;
The
places for each year will count equally and will be added together
for a band’s score;
In the
event of a tie, the most recent placing will be the tie-breaker;
The
winning band in Sections 1-4 will automatically be promoted;
The
scores for all other bands in Sections Ch-4 will be calculated on
the 2-year basis outlined above
One
band in Sections 1-4 with the lowest combined score will be
promoted;
Two
bands in Sections Ch-3 with the highest combines score will be
relegated;
The
winning band and second-placed band in each section will qualify for
the UK Championships;
The
system will start from the 2019 Championships, based on the results
of the 2018 and 2019 Scottish Championships.
Professor
Raymond A Thomson (Special Working Group Secretary)
30
October 2017

Over 25 players and guest marched with the band around the streets of Jedburgh to help celebrate the New year.

With 7 stops for sustenance along the route, another chapter in 'band banter' was written and thanks must go to Laura and David Lightbody, Glen and Kerry-ann Ferguson, Alan Jack and Gary Kowbel, Billy and Joyce Lightbody, George Write, Jackie and Kevin Hill and the Royal British Legion for their kind hospitality.